Gratitude, and a recipe for granola

Here's what I am grateful for today:

On this, the occasion of my LAST WEEKEND OF CALL, EVER EVER EVER, I was sitting around at work, waiting for a procedure to start in the operating room. It was supposed to begin at 9 a.m., which meant, of course, that we started precisely at 9:53. When the doctor arrived and I informed him that, tragically, WE had been called in but the OR team had not--this was the cause of the delay--he informed me that we might have an ERCP to do later on in the day. My heart sank. Not only do I hate ERCPs (too technical, and time-consuming for my taste), but I just really wanted to go home soon and hang out with my kid, whom I had not seen much of since early Friday morning.

"But," he said, and here's where the gratitude comes in, "don't worry. I'm trying to get out of it. I'm not really in the mood to do an ERCP today, how about you?".

You see, this is truly the slacker-attitude that I look for in a weekend, on-call physician. I've never met a doctor who would prefer to just be at home on a Sunday afternoon that I didn't like!

So, on to a completely unrelated topic. I've been making a lot of granola lately. Like, a batch a week. Ever since I started buying plain-old-vanilla yogurt in the quart sized containers, I've noticed that I really need a little something to spruce it up a bit. So I took my mom's recipe for cranberry-almond granola and tweaked it a bit. My friends Kendra and Rebecca both love it, but really, I could bring them a bowl of sticks and mud every week and mix it with a little cinnamon, and they'd go nuts. (This is one reason why I love them both dearly.) Anyway, here is my recipe:

Nonstick cooking spray
1 cup oats (Sometimes I substitute 1/2 cup All Bran and 1/2 cup oats)
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1/3 cup frozen cranberry juice concentrate, thawed (I buy the Langers brand, since it comes in a plastic, resealable container--then I can keep it refrigerated and use it whenever I need it.)
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup sweetened dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine cranberry juice concentrate, brown sugar, olive oil, and cinnamon in small sauce pan. Bring to a boil, whisking until sugar dissolves.

Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, combine oats, almonds, coconut and pecans.

Pour hot syrup over oat mixture and stir to coat. Spread mixture on cookie sheet. Bake until golden brown at edges, about 20 minutes. Add cranberries, stir to blend. Bake until granola is golden brown and beginning to dry, about 12 more minutes. Cool completely on baking sheet. Store in airtight container for up to one week.

And that, my friends, is how I've spent my afternoon--baking granola! Hooray for slacker doctors!